Scan barcode
jhbandcats's review against another edition
5.0
This book was so hard to read. I kept having to stop and take a break. And then I procrastinated so I didn’t have to read any more of it. I’m relieved I finally finished. Of course, the struggles I faced reading it are farcical in comparison to what the people of the Chernobyl disaster experienced.
I found the book hard to read because it was so painful, people describing the worst time of their lives. These memories were interspersed with the occasional gung-ho Soviet who, ten years later, in the face of all the evidence, refused to admit anything had gone wrong, that it was all Western propaganda designed to tear down the achievements of the great Soviet Union. And this five years after the Soviet Union collapsed.
It was also hard to read because the chapters were all transcripts of people talking - and people talk in a very different way than they write, jumping from topic to topic, forgetting where they are in the middle of a sentence, saying something and then immediately backtracking. That said, this book is an essential chronicle of how people experienced the disaster that was Chernobyl. Anyone interested should find this compelling, if difficult and disturbing, reading.
Graphic: Alcohol, Body horror, Cancer, Infertility, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Abortion, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Terminal illness, Vomit, Animal death, Classism, Death, Alcoholism, Gaslighting, Gore, and Chronic illness
sinistralcalluna's review against another edition
5.0
However, be aware that it contains first person accounts of death from radiation poisoning, and the effects of radiation on infants and children.
Graphic: Cancer, Grief, Miscarriage, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Terminal illness, and Animal death
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Medical content, Alcohol, Chronic illness, Fire/Fire injury, Infertility, Suicide, Child death, Death of parent, and Pandemic/Epidemic
mmorenagomes's review
3.5
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Physical abuse, Suicide, Terminal illness, Body horror, Child death, Infertility, and Violence
byrdies's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Grief, Death, Terminal illness, Cancer, and Medical trauma
Moderate: Medical content, Suicide, Child death, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Suicidal thoughts, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Blood, Chronic illness, Infertility, Pregnancy, Gore, and Miscarriage
cynaramaira's review against another edition
4.25
Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Infertility, Medical trauma, War, Miscarriage, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, and Medical content
myrdschaem's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Body horror, Cancer, Death, Grief, Medical content, and Terminal illness
Moderate: Animal death, Blood, Infertility, and Injury/Injury detail
bettinablocksberg's review against another edition
3.5
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Terminal illness, Suicide, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Infertility, Grief, Chronic illness, Child death, Cancer, Body horror, Blood, Animal death, and Alcoholism
Minor: Vomit